Approximately 50 seeds per packet
Collected: 2024
Packaged: 2025
Germination code: C60
Please refer to our germination codes and growing information for recommendations and tips.
Seed treatment recommended: this species requires a minimum of 60 days of cold moist stratification to break its natural dormancy and encourage germination. Alternatively, sow seeds in outdoor containers in the fall or winter, with germination occuring in the spring.
Seeds of this species appreciate being covered by a thin layer of soil or buried when sown to aid in germination. A general rule of thumb is to cover them with a layer of soil no more than two to three times their width. However, it's better to plant seeds shallow, and most seeds will germinate even if surface sown. (Optional) Sprinkling a layer of sterile sand or vermiculite overtop the soil and sown seeds usually won't negatively impact germination, and may help to maintain soil moisture and deter mold.
Chasmanthium latifolium (Inland sea oats) Seed Packet
Virginia ecotype
Duration: Perennial, warm season rhizomatous grass
Habit: Upright, spreading, arching
Size: 2-4 ft. high, wide
Habitat: Streambanks, floodplains, wet woods
Moisture: Dry to wet, poor or well draining
Light: Full sun, part sun, shade
Soils: Clay, loamy, sandy
Uses: rain gardens, containers, woodland gardens, riparian areas, erosion control, cottage gardensChasmanthium latifolium is known as inland wood oats, river oats, northern sea oats, and wild oats, among many other common names. Not truly an "oat" and not edible, the nickname refers to the dangling oat-like seed heads that make this ornamental native grass so attractive and frequently utilized in gardens and landscapes.
Wood oats grass is a warm season, clumping species that spreads slowly by short rhizomes, 3-6 inches a year. However it is known to spread well through its numerous seeds and form dense colonies. Wood oats grass prefers moist, loamy or sandy fertile soils, but is adaptable to almost every site condition. From dry, low-nutrient soil to boggy, water-logged soils. Full sun to the deepest shade.
New leaf shoots are purple-blue. The blue-green, bamboo-like leaves of spring and summer cure to a yellow-gold in the autumn. This grass bears large, drooping, oat-like flower spikelets from slender, arching branches that persist through winter. Some birds and small mammals eat the seeds, and utilize the foliage as cover and nesting material. This grass is a larval host plant for the Northern Pearly-Eye, as well as several skippers.
This species' ability to colonize over time makes it useful for soil retention in steep topography, rivines, and around streams, lakes and ponds. Small plants are easy to dig up, and easily forgive being transplanted in spring or autumn.
Companion plants to consider are (for moist and wet areas) common boneset, joe-pye weed, swamp milkweed, New York ironweed, wingstem, Carex, swamp aster (Symphyotrichum puniceum), obedient plant, and golden ragwort. For dry to medium shady areas: white wood aster, Conoclinium coelestinum (blue mistflower), Virginia creeper, and bluestem goldenrod.